


Youthful Hope

by Locallymoon



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ordinary People, Fluff, High School, M/M, Teen Romance, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:49:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29602014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Locallymoon/pseuds/Locallymoon
Summary: Anything would be better than whatever situations they were in right now, separated by a door, fear and insecurities surrounding them, tears ready to drop at any given moment.This is not what both of them want.
Relationships: Jung Sungchan/Osaki Shotaro
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29
Collections: Challenge #5 — I heard a secret..





	Youthful Hope

Sungchan didn’t even know how they got here.

How he just wished to be cuddled by his amazing boyfriend.

Anything would be better than whatever situations they were in right now, separated by a door, fear and insecurities surrounding them, tears ready to drop at any given moment.

How?

//

It was a really nice sunny day. Sungchan was trying to find the key to his house when he noticed a familiar pair of shoes, placed nicely and orderly just beside the mat. Once he realized whose shoes those were, he got excited and skipped into the living room, finding Shotaro lying down on the sofa, hands busy with his phone.

  
  


“Oh Channie, you’re home?”

“Hyung! You don’t have any class today?”

“No~ The prof cancelled the class today, so I’m free. Oh! I took the key from under the pot,” Taro said. Sungchan, brimming with happiness, went and tackled him onto the sofa, making the phone fall to the side.

“Hey! No! Wash your hand before touching me!”

“Ah, hyung, but I miss you so-so-sooo much!”

“Wash. hands. Now!”

  
  
  


Okay, so here’s the thing—Sungchan and Shotaro had been neighbours since Sungchan could barely even walk, had gone to the same daycare together, same elementary school, and high school. (Their middle school was different, and it was the worst time ever in Sungchan’s life; that’s why he studied hard to get into the same high school as Shotaro.) And one more fun-fact—they had been dating for two years. 

Even with Shotaro in university and Sungchan still in high school now, iit wasn’t too different because they still stayed in their old houses as neighbours. Shotaro always spent his free time at Sungchan’s, and Sungchan, too, would just climb up to Shotaro’s room terrace when the older one was busy. 

But something had been bugging his mind lately.

A week ago, Shotaro performed at his first ever dance club showcase, so as the good boyfriend Sungchan was, of course, came to support him (even if Shotaro told him it wasn't a big deal). And ever since he made a surprise visit to his dance showcase, he felt something was weird.

Sungchan came with a small bouquet of sunflowers, Shotaro’s favorite, and surprised him with his presence. He ended up getting ushered out immediately without even a chance to say hi to Shotaro’s friends. 

Huh. Weird.

But that’s not the only thing. The thing was, whenever Shotaro had his friends over, Sungchan was banned from coming. When they were on video call, Shotaro would close the video and tell Sungchan to wait before he moved rooms to answer the video call. 

Other than that, Shotaro was still the same, bringing him food, remaking TikTok videos (or in Taro’s case, making an entire new dance for the song), and they still cuddled on Sungchan’s bed every other day. It’s the same old thing.

So what was the deal with Shotaro, his friends, and the whole “shoo Sungchan away whenever his friends come” saga?

  
  


Sungchan tried hard to get that out of his mind but it bugged him. Thank god the older had been quite busy with all his university classes, so he could have a few moments alone without thinking about it because seeing Shotaro’s face just made him overthink about the prior events that somehow spiralled into bad thoughts.

But at the same time, he did miss Shotaro so much he wished the university would give their students a week of sudden break.

After he washed his hands, he went back to the living room, only to see Shotaro on the phone.

“Bring my boy—boyfriend?”

Oh, are they talking about—

“Ah—no I … I don’t have one, a boyfriend, I mean, haha.”

And that was when all hell broke loose.

His feet take a sharp turn, toward the stairs and reaching his bedroom.

Shotaro, hearing the hurried steps, shifted his head, looking at Sungchan who was running towards the room, realizing he must have heard his conversation.

“Sungchan—No!”

Sungchan didn't want to hear more and walked toward his room and locked it. He sat in front of his door, leaning his head on both of his legs, not believing what he just heard.

That Shotaro wanted to make him a secret.

Did he feel ashamed of him?

Just because Shotaro was a university student now, did he not want to be seen with high schoolers like Sungchan now?

It just—None of it makes sense to him right now.

“Sungchan! Please open the door!”

He could feel the banging on the doors, and some cackling on the handle of someone trying to open his door but he wouldn’t budge.

“Hyung.”

“Sungchan!! What you hear—“

“I heard it loud and clear, hyung.”

The banging came to a halt for a minute, before he heard a thud. Someone was leaning their head against the door.

“Hyung, are you—are you ashamed of me?”

“What? Never!”

“Then do you want to break up with me?”

“I—I would never ever do that, Channie—”

“Then why did you tell people you don’t have a boyfriend when I’m here?”

A silence came between them again, and Sungchan could feel hot tears forming in his eyes, ready to pour out if what he thought was true. That his beloved boyfriend was ashamed, sick of him even. He was about to say more, but he was cut off by a scream.

“You don’t know how scared I am!”

He could hear Shotaro’s voice just outside of his bedroom. His soft voice became loud, yet it was laced with uncertainty and fear.

“I—I’m scared that you would … find my friends better than me, that one day you would realize how pitiful I am, how bad I am, and leave me for my friends … We’re all the same age and—and all of them are better than me. I’m a bad person. From the time I told you about them and how you were asking about them too … I suddenly got scared and—and I just—I’m a selfish one because I don’t want to lose you, even when I knew it was unreasonable.”

Sungchan heard a sniff, and that’s when he knew his dearest boyfriend, his most precious person in the world, had been crying.

“... I don’t want you to leave my side.”

He got up immediately and opened the door, looking at Shotaro who had been kneeling in front of the door with his eyes red, and tears slowly dripping down his cheeks, a mirror image of his own state because he could feel his eyes burning and tears along his cheek. He knelt down to Shotaro’s height, and hugged him tightly, so tight because he felt the same, because he didn’t want his most favorite people to leave him too. He knew that _exact feeling._

They stayed like that for a few minutes, hiding both their faces in the crooks of their necks, sniffling and crying their hearts out. “Are—Why—Why do you feel like that—my—” Sungchan stopped and hiccuped. “My favorite, my most precious person, Taro hyung.”

Sungchan then lifted his head to look at his beautiful boyfriend. Shotaro’s eyes were red, his cheeks were puffy, and tears were still rolling out of both his eyes. He was sniffling and hiccuping, but for Sungchan, it's still the most beautiful view he ever looked at.

He looked down at him, and kissed both of Shotaro’s eyes, then kissed his tears away, his forehead, his nose, the side of his lips, and then looked at both of his puffy eyes before finally leaning down to meet his lips.

A peck, two pecks, three pecks, and finally a kiss.

He got lost in the most warm and comfortable kiss, and continued to put his head around Shotaro’s neck, hand circling him tightly. He could also feel a pat on his back, a habit they developed when Sungchan felt down, and then he cried harder.

It truly was a realization for both of them.

The fact that they loved and thought about each other so dearly, that they both felt bad for being selfish of their own insecurities toward each other.

//

They’re now laying back on Sungchan bed, both of them facing the blank space of Sungchan’s ceiling.

It was Sungchan who broke the silence first.

“Hyung.”

“... Eung?”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, Sungchan, I—“

“No, listen.” Sungchan then rolled to the side, looking at Shotaro.

“I … I should have been more aware of the situation. I should have talked it out with you in … a more logical way, but all I thought of was myself, and how you were ashamed of me.”

“... Sungchan, I would never do that.”

“I know. My brain just loves to pick on the worst ideas at the bad time. But I should have done something too. I knew about … the past that you had before, and I should have been more considerate about it. I should’ve shown you how much I love you instead of being scared that you would leave me if I—if I held a tight grip on you.” 

Sungchan remembered it perfectly, remembering the time Shotaro missed their movie time, only to find him glued to his own bed. Sungchan embedded the sad smile the older held while telling about the time when his crush was actually in love with his friends. He later decided to bring him to one of their meetings. How he told him, “Love is free. No one can control the other’s feelings and it’s only right for both of them to fall in love with each other, yet it still hurts for Shotaro. No one could stop someone from being hurt just because they told you to stop or-how it doesn’t fit the situation.”

“But Sungchan.”

Shotaro was still looking at the ceiling, hands held together just in front of his stomach.

“I’m in the wrong too. I should have cleared things up with you, and I’m sorry that what I’ve done is create more doubt and fear. This—whatever is this, we shouldn’t have fought it all alone, right? This should be our battle. Not just you, not just me, but both of us.” Shotaro moved his head to the side, only to look at Sungchan. “Can we? Do this?”

It was a moment of silence as they stared at each other's eyes. Both of them had been fighting their own demon, and forgotten they actually had each other to lean on. But now they were trying, trying to find neither the right or wrong path, but the path made especially for them.

Their very own storyline.

“We can.”

//

“So!” Donghyuck put down his drink and slammed the table, making everyone's attention go to him. “Jaemin and I have been editing, well, Jaemin did most of it. What I did was—what is the word? Selecting! yes, I just selected some of it.” He then took Jaemin’s laptop from the owner, and began to click on the folder full of the photos he chose from the dance showcase.

“Woaaah, that looks so cool! Jaemin you’re awesome!”

“Thank you Nono, you guys did an amazing job at the showcase, I just found the right moment for you all.”

“This is nice … really nice, I love that Shotaro solo piece!”

“Huh? Oh yeah, this solo shot was really good. I remember I didn’t need to edit much with this one.”

“Ooh, which one, which one, let me see.” Shotaro leaned his head toward the laptop, trying to look at his photo., Donghyuck put down the laptop and went back to his seat beside Shotaro. 

Shotaro felt the blush coming because it’s really rare that someone could capture his passionate expression and moves clearly. He saw mostly videos of him, rarely still pictures like this, and it sure gave a different vibe. “Waaah … Jaemin, thank you …”

“What … Hey! My idiot brother is also captured there!”

“Ooh which one?”

Donghyuck pointed to a tall boy looking at Shotaro dance in awe. “He is also part of the Neo High Dance School, do you—“

“Hyung!”

Shotaro felt a pair of strong arms back hugging him, making him startled. He then turned his head around to find a familiar mop of curly hair “Ah wh—Channie?”

“I miss you hyung … it was fate that we could meet like this.”

“What—“ Now it’s Shotaro’s turn to blush. “What are you talking about?”

“I was walking back home with my friend when I realized this very cute cardigan that you use. Oh, and your cute fluffy blob of hair too,” Sungchan said, snuggling more toward Shotaro.

“You’re on your way home? At this time?”

“It’s a half-day for the seniors. I was about to buy boba and study in the store next to this cafe with my friend.”

“Ehem.”

Shotaro then looked back at his friends, only to see them smiling at him. Some had confused stares on their eyes, making the situation unavoidable.

Not like he wants to avoid this anymore. He would never do that again.

“So guys, hm, this guy right here is my neighbour and boyfriend, Sungchan.”

“... Hi guys, I’m Sungchan, nice to meet you.”

Sungchan’s introduction was met with “ooh”s and “aah”s to “Oh! I think I saw you at the showcase.” They were all warming up to him before Donghyuck finally opened his mouth and put his hands together.

“Taro … I’m really sorry!”

“Eh what?”

“Actually … me and Jaemin have known that you have a boyfriend … That’s why I asked you that on the call We were thinking that you might want to bring your boyfriend to cheer you on at the event.”

“Huh? How?”

//

So Donghyuck told him about how Jaemin was editing the showcase photos in his living room, when suddenly his brother came home with his boyfriend. As an annoying brother and somehow Jaemin’s favorite person, he pried into his laptop, only to recognize the person in the photos.

_“Oh! Isn’t that Sungchan? Wait—that’s Taro hyung right?”_

_“You know Taro?”_

_“He was one of the legends at our dance club. Most members are learning steps with the dance video that he made. He comes sometimes on the weekends to teach us.”_

_“Wait, who is Sungchan?” Jaemin asked him, realizing they weren’t familiar with the name._

_“He’s my classmate! And our friend too,” Chenle said, rummaging through the fridge to find something cold to drink, “Oh, and he’s also Taro hyung’s boyfriend.”_

_//_

Shotaro and Sungchan then looked at each other, baffled by the story connected to their “fights” a few days back, when he suddenly heard a loud voice.

“Yah! Jung Sungchan! Do you want boba or not?”

“Chenle!”

“Donghyuck hyung, Jaemin hyung, hi! You’ve finally met this giant over here?”

“Well, yes—”

“Now, excuse me, but Taro hyung, you can like, cuddle him or whatever at his home later right? We have a physics quiz tomorrow and I’m screwed if I mess this one up!”

Just like that, Chenle started dragging Sungchan around by his hand. It was quite a funny scene since Chenle was much shorter than him. “Hyung!”

“Let’s meet up later, okay?”

“Y—yeah!”

Sungchan gave one last flying kiss, which Shotaro pretended to catch and eat, making his younger boyfriend beam before they finally left the cafe.

Shotaro felt relieved he was able to tell the world about his amazing boyfriend and feel confident about it. It really was a small little development that meant a lot to him.

Because he knew whatever came their way, they would endure it together.

They would dance slowly through this, put their own worries away, and lean on each other for support. Reaching for each other's heart and touches.

Yes.

They would.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time joining this fic fest, and I'm having so much fun! Also, I'm so so happy that I also have a beta-pair for this fic, thank you for making my fic so soo much better!!!
> 
> This is my first time too writing Sungtaro (well, there's a lot of first time here) portraying them both as teenagers with much confusion yet youthful hope on their life. I hope that this piece could make you smile a little :)
> 
> Thank you mod for organizing this fest!


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